MoCo opening mass vax site - thank you Marc Elrich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

This.
Leisure World has more people than some counties.

So strange they didn't just create a drive-thru site at Leisure World.

Leisure Worlder's were vaccinated in February, as part of a state program:

The first vaccination clinics resulting from the partnership will start this week, with teams from MedStar Health vaccinating residents at Leisure World in Silver Spring as well as Epiphany House and Gallagher Mansion in Baltimore City. Over the next few weeks, the clinics together will provide vaccinations to more than 7,000 Marylanders age 65 and over.

https://health.maryland.gov/newsroom/Pages/Maryland-Departments-of-Health-and-Aging-coordinate-to-bring-COVID-19-vaccination-clinics-into-independent-living-facilitie.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So people here want the county to give them the vaccines instead of to older people?

MoCo is not slow in delivering shots. They take a week to administer the ones they get each week. They literally could not do this faster. They just aren't giving them to YOU because there are still older people who need them.

? What? Phase based on health, age, and profession is fine. But MoCo also throws in race into their equity framework for who gets priority.

No one is sayng older people shouldn't get vaccinated first. No one is saying it should be first come first serve for the entire population. The state also follows phased approaches based on age, profession, health, but MoCo applies the equity framework which means that certain racial groups in the phased groups get priority over the other racial groups.

This is slowing down getting people vaccinated because they are holding it up for those specific groups. Yes, MoCo eventually uses up the vaccines, but if they didn't put the race factor in, they could do it faster.

“Within those top-priority ZIP codes, the county doses will be allocated based on case rate and death rates by race and ethnicity for folks living in the ZIP codes that have been disproportionately impacted,” Crowel added.

So if you live in that zip code, but you aren't a particular race, you won't get priority. That seems discriminatory to me.

https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2021/02/montgomery-county-to-prioritize-covid-19-vaccine-doses-by-zip-code/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You get the idea -- the county can easily run shuttle buses from key locations to the Six Flags site. They have not.

Very vulnerable elderly (nursing homes) are getting vaccinated on-site as part of the federal program anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You get the idea -- the county can easily run shuttle buses from key locations to the Six Flags site. They have not.

Very vulnerable elderly (nursing homes) are getting vaccinated on-site as part of the federal program anyway.

No, the county cannot and should not have to create an entire new bus system to compensate for the Governor failing to put a mass vax site in the most populous and oldest site in the state.

And no, many many elderly people do not live in nursing homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You seem very defeatist- what is it that you want the county to do- go house to house vaccinating seniors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

Well plenty of elderly will struggle to get to Germantown too, so.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

Well plenty of elderly will struggle to get to Germantown too, so.....

Yes I'm sure you're very concerned about them lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You seem very defeatist- what is it that you want the county to do- go house to house vaccinating seniors?

It reminds me of the MCPS threads about reopening. There were always peopel who came up with an excuse about why it wouldn't work.

[Anonymous]

So glad the State of Maryland is making MC fall in line with the State guidelines. Whew! It was soo damn confusing with the differing policies. And don't get me started with the equity BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You seem very defeatist- what is it that you want the county to do- go house to house vaccinating seniors?

It reminds me of the MCPS threads about reopening. There were always peopel who came up with an excuse about why it wouldn't work.

Actually what is defeatist is looking at the racial disparity numbers and saying, oh well there's nothing more Hogan can do, a Germantown site won't do anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You get the idea -- the county can easily run shuttle buses from key locations to the Six Flags site. They have not.

Very vulnerable elderly (nursing homes) are getting vaccinated on-site as part of the federal program anyway.

Have you been to the mass vax site? Obviously, you have not.

I have an it's a completely car based system. It is not set up for buses, shuttle buses, or even a van or large suv full of people. You stay in your car, open a window, get the shot. There is not walk up service, you are not allowed out of the car. That, I assume, I part of the reason why you can only schedule two appointments at a time. It's not a walk up and stand in line site.

Another site or portion of the site would have to be devoted to cans or vans or buses full of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

Well plenty of elderly will struggle to get to Germantown too, so.....

Yes I'm sure you're very concerned about them lol

?? Just saying there are winners and losers regardless of where you put it. Thankfully the mass vax sites are far from the only option for seniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, MoCo doesn't have that many vaccines and has tons of elderly people. That's the hold up, the state did not distribute vaccines based on number of 65+ people who would actually take the vaccine.

Instead the state created a drive in site at Six flags that only those people rich enough to have a car and 2-4 hours or spare time or leave can get thru.

We were there yesterday, most people are white and under the age of 65. MoCo is still trying to get through the enormous about of seniors who live here.

Car ownership is hardly a sign of being rich. The majority of car-owning households in MoCo have 2 cars, in fact: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md#housing

There are 370k households in MoCo: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/montgomerycountymaryland and there are 366k households with 1 or 2 cars.

I do realize not everyone has a car, but MoCo could just run shuttle buses from the Silver Spring transit center to the mass vax site.

As it is, the new county-selected site in Germantown is almost 10 miles from the nearest Metro station, so clearly they are not considering public transport access when choosing a site anyway.

You get that not all the elderly people who don't have a car or can't drive live in Silver Spring? Plenty of people upcounty who would really struggle just to get to the SS transit center. Nevermind the cost and the risks of putting vulnerable people together in a bus for so long.

You get the idea -- the county can easily run shuttle buses from key locations to the Six Flags site. They have not.

Very vulnerable elderly (nursing homes) are getting vaccinated on-site as part of the federal program anyway.

Have you been to the mass vax site? Obviously, you have not.

I have an it's a completely car based system. It is not set up for buses, shuttle buses, or even a van or large suv full of people. You stay in your car, open a window, get the shot. There is not walk up service, you are not allowed out of the car. That, I assume, I part of the reason why you can only schedule two appointments at a time. It's not a walk up and stand in line site.

Another site or portion of the site would have to be devoted to cans or vans or buses full of people.

They can figure it out if MoCo wanted to start doing it. Elrich never said "We have shuttle buses ready to run but MD won't provide walk-up service." That state could easily adapt.

For example the state mass vax site in Hagerstown will be indoors, see photos:

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/local/state-prepares-mass-vaccination-site-near-hagerstown/article_84f49cb6-f159-55c1-b018-c4cf44536bf0.html

Then they will have golf carts to escort people who can't easily walk from their car through the parking lot.